Feb. 1, 2009
Recap | Box Score | Notes
Villanova head coach Jay Wright...
Opening statement: This was a very good game for us. I feel like we are playing better. Cincinnati has been playing as well as anybody in this league and they gave us big problems in the first half. We just had a tough time dealing with their ball screens in the first half. They were very well prepared. [Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin] knew exactly what they wanted to do and they did it. For us to come out and defend like that in the second half was great. Corey Fisher was great defending Deonta Vaughn a lot in the second half and so was Scottie Reynolds. They both did a great job. And Dante Cunningham was just Dante. He is the rock for us.
On the first half: You never know how the game is going to start but I thought at the beginning the gym was kind of dead and we started kind of dead too. I give Cincinnati a lot of credit because they were prepared for everything we did. They got the ball out of Scottie's hands but I could just kind of tell that we kept our focus and then really defended in the second half. That all comes from the seniors making sure that happened. I came in the locker room at halftime and Dante was at the board going over the pick and rolls we were getting killed on.
On keeping the team's focus after the win over Pittsburgh: I am usually more concerned after losses that we don't get too down because we are only 5-3 in the BIG EAST. We hadn't had a big win like that against Pitt so for the first time we had to tackle something different. In the conference you just have to go one game at a time and you can't worry about how the last game affects you going into the next one.
On Corey Fisher's development: Offensively he is one of the most gifted guys we have had and we know that. He has a lot of teammates that are counting on him defensively and has had to give up some of that speed with the other guys defensively. In the last two games we have put him on Levance Fields (Pittsburgh) and Deonta Vaughn. Those are two guys that you don't just worry about them getting it going with scoring, but that if you put too much help on them they will give other people easy shots. Today we were able to keep [Fisher] on Vaughn and not have to double him. That's what he did a great job with today.
On Villanova's rebounding: There was a spurt in the middle of the second half where Dante Cunningham, Dwayne Anderson and Shane Clark were just up on the glass. It was only a spurt because we only had three more rebounds than them but [Cincinnati] did that in the first half. I am really proud of these guys. They have been great on the glass. They are very tough.
On Villanova's defense this season: Defense is a team game even more than offense is. You can't have one guy that breaks down. Last year we were young and we could have four guys busting their butts defensively but one would break down. That happened earlier this year but the development of Corey Fisher, Corey Stokes and Antonio Pena has been really big for us. Now we have five guys on the floor most times that are all playing off of each other and reading each other defensively and we don't have those breakdowns. The sophomores are making the difference and the seniors are always there. They're big for us.
On the first eight conference games: I feel good after the first eight BIG EAST games. I think we got better today. I would have been happy coming out of the Pitt game to come in and just survive today because Cincinnati has been playing great. I know how hyped everyone here was after the Pitt game but this game concerned me. I think we got better. The players used the practice day and in the game did some things better. I feel very good about that.
On the seniors: Shane Clark, Dwayne Anderson and Dante Cunningham do so many things and they don't get flustered. Cincinnati was the best prepared team we have seen this year for what we do at both ends of the floor. The seniors don't get down or flustered and they keep everybody else that way. We talked about [Corey Fisher] making plays and he did. Being another year older makes a big difference in basketball.
Senior forward Dante Cunningham...
On preparing for the game after beating Pittsburgh: We just keep pounding into some of the younger guys heads that we have been through this when we were younger and we are saying the same things that our captains told us. You can't worry about the game once it's over and you can't do anything until the next game. We knew that Cincinnati would come right at us. We beat a big team in the BIG EAST in Pitt and everybody else sees that and wants to make their name against you.
On Villanova's defense: We just constantly remind everyone on the court to play for ourselves, our coaches and our teammates. It always has to start from within. You can't have outside motivation all the time. Sometimes you have to want to do it for yourself.
On the first half: The coaches talk to each other first before they come in the locker room and Coach pulled me to the size and told me what was going on and said to relay it to the rest of the team. That's what I did.
Sophomore guard Corey Fisher...
On his development as a college player: The message kind of sinks in that the offense will come but it has to be defense first. I knew the BIG EAST would be tough coming out of high school and that you have to be stronger and quicker and work to develop that. I watched my teammates and how hard they played and Coach talks to us in practice about having depth and that a lot of other people play six, seven, eight guys. It is a whole different ballgame making the transition from high school to college.
Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin...
Opening statement: I thought we controlled the first half but lost a seven-point lead at the end of the half and that really hurt us. It doesn't matter what sport it is, you can't dominate the majority of the first half and go into halftime down one point. Their run at the end of the first half really hurt us. We didn't take care of the ball and in a free throw situation the outcome wasn't very positive for us. We have got to find a way to finish off a half and get to the locker room with the lead, especially on the road against a ranked opponent.
We had 19 offensive rebounds which is a chance to score 38 points without even counting potential three-pointers. We only had eight second-chance points so we didn't capitalize on the second shots. We shot the ball extremely poor from the perimeter considering the looks we had so we didn't make wide open shots. We got some second shots where we kicked it out. Villanova does a great job denying points in the paint and helping on defense. We didn't finish around the rim and couldn't get to the line. We only had six free throws attempted until there was one minute left. There were a lot of reasons for that but at the end of the day we didn't do what we had to do in the second half to win.
On getting worn down by Villanova's defense and press: We only had one turnover against their press. I didn't think their defense wore us down but I thought our lack of defensive rebounding hurt us. Where they wore us down was Dante Cunningham and their veteran guys' tremendous hustle and effort on the offensive glass. A lot of their run was fueled by second shots. We hung our heads when we struggled on offense and didn't get back and get a stop. When we did get a stop we didn't get the defensive rebound. That fueled their run. They raised their intensity level. Our big guys particularly, a lot of guys didn't play well for us today. We win as a team and we lose as a team, coaches included.
On Villanova: They have really improved in the last month. Dante Cunningham has taken his game to another level. He is leading the charge and when things go bad for them he stops it. He stops it with a defensive play or with an offensive rebound. Early in the game he made some jump shots that kept them in the game. He does so many things for them, most importantly with his tremendous energy. I saw him back in AAU and he has really improved. He has a great attitude and toughness. He was probably the one senior that played a lot of minutes in today's game and that made the difference.
On Villanova's veterans: That is what concerns me about us down the stretch with our young guys is you see guys like Dante Cunningham and they have a sense of urgency because they can sense the end. I assume if you asked him he would tell you this is his last shot at this and he plays that way. In my mind the games are not just the talent level but the intensity level. It is so hard to win on the road in this league, especially to play 40 minutes of serious basketball. That's just how it is, especially this year. The league is ridiculous to say the last. I told our guys it is a 10-round fight the rest of the way and we aren't going to win all 10 rounds. They have to make sure if you lose a round that you win the next one and keep fighting. You can't let one loss affect you. We did a lot of positive things today and controlled one half of the game against a great team in a tough situation. We have to build on that. You can't hang your head because if you do you will wake up and have lost three games in a row. That is the danger in this conference. Now, Wednesday becomes a big game for us.
On Alvin Mitchell: Alvin has had great practices so he didn't surprise me. He gives us a lot of toughness and he brought it today. He is capable of being 8-of-10 with the shots he got from three but he is just a sophomore so it's tough. The one thing we lack right now is somebody to put the ball in the basket for us and get us hot. We have eight minutes where we scored four points. When we got offensive rebounds we didn't get it back up and in or get to the foul line.
On the physical nature of the game: It is a war every night for freshmen in this league, not just ours but everybody because of the physicality of the game. Yancy Gates if he even touches someone in high school it is a foul because of his size. In the BIG EAST if he goes up for a rebound then he is out of bounds because three guys jump on him. It's a trial by fire. You have to get better and become hardened by these experiences.
Junior guard Deonta Vaughn...
On the difference in the game: I think in the second half we just got lackadaisical. We were lazy a couple of times and didn't do the things that we did in the first half. We weren't getting after it and forcing them to be uncomfortable. We just didn't do the things we wanted to and got lazy with the ball a little bit. We got the shots we wanted but didn't knock down open shots. That's just what happens with some teams.
On Cincinnati: We have a good offense and defense. There were some things in the second half where we just didn't knock down the shots we usually do. We are coming along as a young team and everyone has come along and is playing together. We just have to keep it going and not worry about this game. You have to put one game behind you and get ready to win the next game.
On the pace of the game: You know in college that it is going to be an up tempo game and you just try to take control of the ball and take care of everything with your team and get focused and ready to play so that when you go out and play you can't tell the difference between two people pushing the ball up. Every game in the BIG EAST is tough. Every team wants to win and every home teams has its crowd behind them. It is tough to win on the road because the crowd is into it and they get after you too.
Sophomore guard Alvin Mitchell...
On his play: What I care about most is if we get a win, not if shots go down. The alley-oop play gave them a lot of momentum going into the second half, that and the layup that Scottie Reynolds had. You go into every game and you want to win and play as hard as you can, but you have to get ready for the next game. We have another game on Wednesday and you can't let this sit in your mind. You have to go into the next practice and the next game and play hard.
